Evaluating the Environmental Performance and Operational Efficiency of Container Ports: An Application to the Maritime Silk Road

Gang Dong, Jing Zhu, Jin Li, Handong Wang and Yuvraj Gajpal
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Gang Dong: School of Economics and Management, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 201306, China
Jing Zhu: School of Business Administration, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, China
Jin Li: School of Management and E-Business, Key Research Institute-Modern Business Research Center, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310018, China
Handong Wang: School of Economics and Management, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 201306, China
Yuvraj Gajpal: Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 5V4, Canada

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: A major goal for port authorities, operators, and investors is to achieve efficient operations and effective environmental protection. This is because the environmental performance of a container port is important for its competitiveness and sustainable development. However, the container ports along the Maritime Silk Road (MSR) have caused numerous problems with the rapid development, among which the most significant problem is environmental pollution. In this paper, we aim to measure and compare the environmental performance and operational efficiency of ten major container ports along the MSR, including the ports of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kelang, Laem Chabang, Colombo, Dubai, Barcelona, Antwerp, and Hamburg. We develop an improved, inseparable data envelopment analysis (DEA) model with slack-based measures (SBMs) to evaluate and compare the environmental performance and operational efficiency, and we incorporate the desirable output of container throughput as well as the undesirable output of CO 2 emission. Our results show that. Overall. these container ports perform better in terms of operational efficiency than environmental performance. We also provide insights for management and policy makers for container ports with different levels of operational efficiency and environmental performance.

Keywords: container port; environmental performance; operational efficiency; SBM-DEA; MSR (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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